I didn't intend to write another post on this subject so soon after the last one, but a story on yahoo.com's news feed has really annoyed me. I know journalists these days are seriously under pressure, but that doesn't really justify taking a 'press release' from a known activist organisation and running it uncritically ie [...]
My friend & blog-buddy Grant drew my attention to a story about osteosarcoma at stuff.co.nz - and to the comments section, where one commenter raised the issue of a claimed link between this rare form of cancer and community water fluoridation (CWF). This particular claim has surfaced quite a lot lately, as anti-fluoride groups target [...]
We've frequently been told that '14 Nobel prize winners in chemistry & medicine oppose fluoridation', which, while superficially impressive, is really just an argument from authority. (Most of those listed are dead, so it's difficult to gain personal confirmation of their stance.) It's also a fairly trivial figure, as Terry Cuttress has pointed out: "Since [...]
From Declan Waugh's FB page "The data on Fluoride exposure and IQ presented at the Tehran Conference helps to explain Ireland's ranking of 26th of 34 participating OECD countries for students skills and knowledge in Mathematics in the Programme on International Student Assessment." Waugh links to a press release from the Irish Parliament, which clearly [...]
Various commenters on the Uni's Facebook page for our Google Hangout earlier this week have urged me & my colleagues to read The Case Against Fluoride, by Drs Connett, Beck & Micklem. One of the reasons we should do is, we're told, is because it's got a whole 80 pages of references (or, as one commenter [...]
I see that Pat McNair has posted the following on the Fluoride Free Hamilton page. Since I can't comment there, I'm going to respond below, as it seems her recollection of what was said by the speaker is somewhat faulty. "I attended the free public lecture by Dr Graham Saunders, senior lecturer in inorganic chemistry [...]
A colleague (an analytical chemist) has done the maths for us on the amount of water someone would have to drink in order to achieve a fluoride load commensurate with chronic fluorosis (around 20mg/kg dry matter in the diet). Food varies quite a bit in its water content, but they've assumed an average of 50% [...]
We've had quite a few comments lately along the lines of wanting fluoride removed so that we are drinking 'pure' water. However, the cessation of fluoridation by itself won't achieve that. Hamilton's water hasn't had fluoride added since supplies ran out after the HCC tribunal's decision. However, we're still getting 0.3ppm F- in our water [...]
Another example of a paper not showing what's claimed for it: Let's look at Bataineh & Nusier's 2006 report on the effects of sodium fluoride (NaF) on behaviour and reproduction in male rats. In the very first sentence of the abstract, we see that the experimental animals received either 100ppm or 300ppm NaF for 12 [...]
A common technique of those arguing against fluoridation on the MSoF Facebook page is to dump large amounts of copypasta (from various sources) & tell us that if we'd only read it we'd see the rightness of their case. Or else, we get a lengthy list of references, & the same admonition. The problem is [...]